1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to method of accessing resources in a distributed computer networking environment and, in particular, to a technique for enabling an intermediary server to impersonate a client user's identity to a plurality of authentication domains.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information technology (IT) systems and the Internet have fueled the growth of the current global economy. In a typical enterprise environment, however, there may be a number of different business units, each offering a different type of web-based business service or application. Thus, for example, a large enterprise may have a sales department, a service department, and so on. Each department or business unit may also have their own legacy or other backend system. Many such enterprises have provided web-based business services through distinct and often independent service offerings. Continuing with the above example, the enterprise may provide a first web-based business service through a first portal, a second web-based business service through a second portal, and so on. In such case; a given user may have multiple accounts and perhaps multiple passwords within the same enterprise as a result of the differences in backend systems, service offerings, and the like.
While these disparate systems provide users with adequate service offerings, a problem arises if the Company desires to combine these web-based business services into an integrated portal. In particular, typically there is significant user resistance to having to modify account identities and passwords once such authentication data is established and in use.
The present invention addresses this problem.